Tuesday, February 2, 2016

There are Catholics who unquestionably want
to change Church teaching. There also are Catholics who boldly defend Church
teaching. Nothing noteworthy so far. But then there is this strange breed of Catholics
somewhere in the middle, who in some capacity accepts the teaching of the
Church but at the same time is embarrassed by it.

A
recent post by John Allen is a good example of the kind of maneuvering that is symptomatic of this condition. He labors through painful, convoluted “logic” and contorted
mental gymnastics to “conclude” that the “gay lobby” in the Vatican is not
(only) about homosexuals.

Reading
between the lines: It’s not about the
gays. We are not singling them out. Really, I promise! Even when we say “gay”
we don’t mean actual gays.

It is no surprise that among the Church
teachings most likely to produce this effect are her teachings on sexual
morality: indissolubility of marriage, contraception, abortion, and homosexuality.
Arguably though – even more than these very hot-button issues – the most troubling
Church teaching for this crowd is the all-male, hierarchical priesthood.
Cringe.

Their inner turmoil is tragic and often is
compounded by an addiction to media acceptance.

The poster child for this schizophrenic
reaction to the all-male, hierarchical priesthood is a prince of the Church,
Seán Cardinal O’Malley.

In a November 2014 interview, CBS
correspondent Norah O’Donnell asked Cardinal O’Malley about the “exclusion of
women” from the priesthood. His reply is agonizing. After a brief and weak defense
of Church teaching, he confesses: “If I were founding a church, I’d love to
have women priests.” Read that one again.

Then in an apparent damage-control follow up
a few days later, the cardinal cites St. Therese of the Child Jesus as an
example of women though out history who have wanted to be priests. This egregious
misrepresentation of St. Therese, associating her with a modern feminist
entitlement mentality, underscores just how far these troubled Catholics will
go in an attempt to appease the media and the world while also trying
to remain within Church tradition.

Cardinal O’Malley then bends over backwards
even further with a gross generalization that “women often are holier, smarter, more hard-working
then men.”

Reading
between the lines: It’s not that women
are incapable of being priests. They are capable. In fact women are more capable than men. Really. I mean
it! Please don’t hate me. It’s not my fault.

Over
the past 45 years we have seen a stream of consolation prizes.

-Girl altar servers in the sanctuary

-Women lectors in the sanctuary

-Women cantors in the sanctuary

-Women Extraordinary Ministers of Holy
Communion (sometimes in robes)

-Women “pastoral associates” (a nifty chiasmus
of associate pastor)

-Most recently, a papal directive that women
can be included among the 12 representatives of the Apostles (the original
priests) who have feet washed on Holy Thursday. (And if women can be included, then they must be included – otherwise the
priest is reactionary and sexist.)

In the end, this accomplishes nothing to
appease the world and media; instead it emboldens them while also fueling a
growing frustration as they bang their heads on what they see as a glass
ceiling. From their perspective, it is merely patronizing because…